Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

In a perfect world we could potentially have a 2027 forward pack and depth with something like my list below which would not dramatically improve our top 17, but would ensure there is good pressure for positions to keep all our players on their toes and hopefully playing at or near their best more often and most importantly mean we do not drop off dramatically when injuries occur.

8. Terrell May / Samuel Hughes
9. Api Korisau / Jared Haywood
10. Alex Twal - TBC - I would stick with Tony Sukkar moving to the middle, but if not him maybe Peter Taateo or Vaka Aho as it would need to be someone on the minimum contract
11. Kai Pearce-Paul / Kelma Tuilagi
12. Samuela Fainu / Ethan Roberts
13. Shawn Blore / Alex Seyfarth

14. Jamie Humphreys
15. Ray Stone
16. Sione Fainu
17. Fonua Pole

** I don’t think Samuel Hughes or Kelma Tuilagi would be happy signing for us to be playing NSW Cup when we are at full strength, but if playing at their best they would be pushing strongly for a spot in our top 17 along with Seyfarth and the emerging Jared Haywood and Ethan Roberts which is what we want and need.
Big fan of this. I think Kelma will end up in ESL imo but Blore could be that 1st drop for the backrow anyway. Got a feeling Suli Pole may end up with us on a Development deal, just a feeling.
 
With good recruitment we could potentially have a 2027 forward pack and depth with something like my list below which would not dramatically improve our top 17, but would ensure there is good pressure for positions to keep all our players on their toes and hopefully playing at or near their best more often and most importantly mean we do not drop off dramatically when injuries occur.

8. Terrell May / Samuel Hughes
9. Api Korisau / Jared Haywood
10. Alex Twal - TBC - I would stick with Tony Sukkar moving to the middle, but if not him maybe Peter Taateo or Vaka Aho as it would need to be someone on the minimum contract
11. Kai Pearce-Paul / Kelma Tuilagi
12. Samuela Fainu / Ethan Roberts
13. Shawn Blore / Alex Seyfarth

14. Jamie Humphreys
15. Ray Stone
16. Sione Fainu
17. Fonua Pole

Is there anything to link any of new these players to the club ?
 
If you think Bula and Turuva are overpaid this year .., you are really going to hate it next year 😂

Bula is the only one the opposition need to worry about as a wide threat at the moment .., sure he is featuring prominently on tne opposition game plan each week and seems to get plenty of attention from the opposition…
I think you're highly exaggerating this. Currently he looks like he couldn't bust through a wet paper towel. He doesn't have any explosive speed or evasivenews. He's a very one dimensional player, easy to defend one on one.

He has pace but needs 40 metres to build up to that speed. Which is effectively useless in a team incapable of breaking the line
 
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I think you're highly exaggerating this. Currently he looks like he couldn't bust through a wet paper towel. He doesn't have any explosive speed or evasive was. He's a very one dimensional player, easy to defend one on one.

He has pace but needs 40 metres to build up to that speed. Which is effectively useless in a team incapable of breaking the line
So ..who else do you think they are concentrating on instead ? Sukkar and Maka out wide ? No one else in the team could run out of sight on a dark night
 
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Is there anything to link any of new these players to the club ?
No other than they are the best of an average bunch of forwards currently without a contract for 2027 onwards.
Corey Horsburgh is reportedly available and has some positives about him, but he is prone to giving away penalties which we are ideally trying to reduce.
He would no doubt add something to us at the right price, but the rumours are he is heading to a Queensland club.
Ata Mariota is the other one that has plenty of NRL experience and would be a decent recruit, my preference would be for a similar aged player who is a bigger body in Samuel Hughes, but if we signed either one of them it would certainly help our depth.
 
No other than they are the best of an average bunch of forwards currently without a contract for 2027 onwards.
Corey Horsburgh is reportedly available and has some positives about him, but he is prone to giving away penalties which we are ideally trying to reduce.
He would no doubt add something to us at the right price, but the rumours are he is heading to a Queensland club.
Ata Mariota is the other one that has plenty of NRL experience and would be a decent recruit, my preference would be for a similar aged player who is a bigger body in Samuel Hughes, but if we signed either one of them it would certainly help our depth.

The best player you have mentioned is Ray Stone .. i doubt he joins us
 
I assume Latu at 7 and Doueihi at 6 will likely be the combination Benji gives the first opportunity to in 2027.
I’m guessing he will run with what plan with Jock as the back up 7 in case Latu does not own the 7 jersey like we all hope and expect he will.
Javon is definitely more of a natural 6, so he will continue to apply pressure for the 6 jersey if Doueihi is not getting the job done and pending if we see Latu as more of a 7 or a 6.
Ideally you would hope we add a good utility such as Jamie Humphreys to be our 14 to cover 9, 13, 6 or 7 and be another option just in case all the other halves scenarios fail.
Madden is Koe cup level and should be used because on injuries.
Doueihi should be our utility player next season.
 
No you are misinterpreting what I am saying.
I don’t think Wests Tigers look after our junior players as a whole as good as they should and this includes our South-West based juniors and our Balmain District juniors and our players recruited from outside of these areas at a young age.
What I am saying is we are not going out of our way to try and include many of our South-West based juniors in our future too 30 plans, so it can rightly or wrongly give a feeling they are not being prioritised from that area.
Like anything in life you need a little bit of give and take to win over the trust of many in the South-West and despite plenty of words to say that is what we are planning, our actions have not been backing that up very well.
Our former management over reacted to this and gave almost the entire Wests Harold matts side NRL deals when none had yet earned them. They're so desperate to promote juniors from the south west they just throw contracts at them. At least Richo was able to secure CTM and Godinet without using NRL contracts. And they've been proven correct, as both are at least 2-3 years away from first grade contention
 
No other than they are the best of an average bunch of forwards currently without a contract for 2027 onwards.
Corey Horsburgh is reportedly available and has some positives about him, but he is prone to giving away penalties which we are ideally trying to reduce.
He would no doubt add something to us at the right price, but the rumours are he is heading to a Queensland club.
Ata Mariota is the other one that has plenty of NRL experience and would be a decent recruit, my preference would be for a similar aged player who is a bigger body in Samuel Hughes, but if we signed either one of them it would certainly help our depth.
Jeez I didn't realise that Mariota is off contract. Yes please, he'd be great to complement Terrell, Pole & Twal. BUT Canberra may up the ante if they are likely to lose Horsburgh.
 

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